In February 2000, the St. Peter, Minnesota resident was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a disease she has been living with ever since. At the time of her diagnosis, Willaert was given the type of news that people dread. She was told that her life expectancy could be counted on one hand– just five years. “It was,” she says, “the most devastating day of my life.” Thankfully, so far she has proven the doctors wrong and is doing everything she can to turn the terrible experience into something positive, even during the surgeries and chemotherapy treatments she continues to endure.  

 

It is Willaert’s understanding of living with cancer that led her to try to do something to help increase research into the disease, and also to bring a bit of beauty to the lives of fellow sufferers. With her experience in the jewelry world – she works at Exclusively Diamonds in Mankato, Minnesota– it was inevitable that she would do something with jewelry, which is how Butterfly of Life was born.

 

“I was undergoing treatment at the Mayo Clinic,” she says, “when my oncologist said to me that I should design something. I wanted to create a fine piece of jewelry other than the ribbon that you see everywhere.”

When it came to figuring out what that jewelry should be, Willaert reached an impasse and began second guessing whether she could even take on the task of designing the piece. It took a seemingly innocuous event to give her the design inspiration she was searching for.  In 2005, she was sitting outside her house when a butterfly fluttered by her face. With that simple event, she found her inspiration.  “I took this as a sign from God that I needed to go ahead with the process,” she says simply.

“Butterflies signify new beginnings and as a cancer survivor, each step in the cancer journey means a new beginning,” says Willaert, who stresses that she is not a designer but rather an ordinary person who loves jewelry.

Butterfly of Life is built around a single butterfly design that is adapted not only for each type of pocket but also for each type of cancer. Manufactured by the Kirchner Corporation, the butterflies are available as a white or yellow gold pendant or charm in a variety of designs. Any colored gemstone or diamond can be set in the butterfly to represent a specific type of cancer, in accordance with the American Cancer Society’s awareness colors. The butterflyoflife.com website lists the different stones available and the sadly dizzying array of cancers they represent: from teal diamond, which represents Willaert’s own ovarian and cervical cancer, black diamond for melanoma, peridot for lymphoma, to emerald for kidney cancer.

 

Kirchner donates $5 for every butterfly sold, and an additional $5 is donated from every retail sale. The proceeds have been donated to the Mayo Clinic as well as to local charities. “I am a cancer survivor,” says Willaert, “and I feel a very strong need for research and education. Cancer can be a debilitating and lonely disease. With research and education, it is my hope to help as many individuals as I can. It is my entire mission.”

 

Willaert is quick to point out that although some people buy the pieces simply because they like butterflies, most people have a deeper motivation behind their purpose. “We have sold Butterflies to all types of individuals.  Most of them are purchased to wear in honor, memory or support of someone who is special to them or is a cancer research supporter.”

Inevitably, with such an emotive item, Willaert has heard a lot of stories.  “The most rewarding thing for me is the people who purchase them because they are remembering a loved one who has cancer or who has died from cancer. I have heard  so  many heartwarming  stories  over  the past  two  years,  which  has  given  me  so  much gratification. That was one of my main reasons for creating the Butterfly, as I want individuals to share their stories.”

 

While  Butterfly  of  Life  commemorates  and celebrates sufferers of al l forms of cancer, many jewelers and designers use the wide support given to breast cancer during the annual October Breast Cancer  Awareness  month  for  their  charitable actions. The  connection  is hardly  surprising  as women  are  the main  end-users  of  jewelry  and also the main sufferers of breast cancer.

One contributing designer is Laura Gibson, who first designed a bracelet in honor of October Breast Cancer Awareness month in 2006. The cause, she says is “very close to my heart.” Gibson's sterling silver  bracelet  consists  of  freshwater  cultured pearls,  rose  quartz,  pink  tourmaline,  pink chalcedony, white crystal, as well as a breast cancer charm. Designed exclusively for Bailey Banks & Biddle for $125, $25 of each purchase goes to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization. In its first year, the bracelet sold out.

In support of Breast Cancer Awareness month 2007, jewelry designer Alex Woo debuted the Open Heart Necklace.  The sterling silver or 14 karat rose gold disc pendants have a cutout heart with the reminder to “live. love. be involved,” inscribed  on  the  back.  Says Woo, who  lost her mother  to breast cancer, “The necklaces are designed to be worn  by  any  woman  as  an  everyday  reminder of  life’s  important  lessons,  to  contribute  to  the fight  against breast  cancer  and  to  remember  to get breast exams.”

 

For the six years prior to the appearance of the Open Heart Necklace, Woo donated proceeds from the sale of her Little Pink Heart Necklace and Pink Ribbon Ring, which commemorate the memory of her mother, to the Woman’s Cancer Research Fund (WCFR).  The WCRF was  established  to  support innovative  research,  education  and  outreach directed  at  the  development  of  more  effective approaches to the early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of al l women’s cancers. The charity is, she says, a cause that is very near and dear to her.  “As a designer, I really wanted to contribute in my own way. As artists, we can do some wonderful things in the creative world that can help bring awareness to this fight. So I wanted to create something beautiful that people

can wear, and, at the same time, represent so many stories of hope and courage.”

Woo says that the people who buy the Open Heart Necklace, which retails from $118 to $458, and is a permanent piece of her collection,  tend  to be those who have been touched in their own lives, or have  family or  friends  that have  suffered  from  breast cancer. “It’s really wonderful to hear stories from survivors who purchase my designs and tell us how thankful they are to have something that they can not only wear close to their hearts but that also gave them the strength to fight.”

Despite it being a “charity piece,” she still puts her design ethic front and center.  “When I design my charity pieces, I design something that people can wear all the time. I know that there are a lot of pieces out there that really look like charity pieces. That’s where my designs are different.  They are classic, subtle and can be worn everyday, with anything. You  can wear  it  in  support  of  the  charity, which is wonderful ,  but  sometimes  people  just  love  the design, which is great as well.

”Karla  Lewis,  owner  of  the  custom,  fine  jewelry company Best Friends Diamonds & Gems, a business she founded in 1996, describes herself as the type of person “who likes to give back.” She has recently entered the breast cancer charity field with her diamond watch. The watch, however, has not sold as well as she had hoped. Although it appeared on local TV news and although  she  is willing  to give $1000 of the $2000 proceeds to breast cancer charity, Lewis,  a  private  jeweler  who  does  not  advertise,

admits she has yet to sell her first piece.

Nevertheless, she is not discouraged and has great hopes for the piece, which she designed in honor of her grandmother and a high school friend who both suffered from breast cancer. When  she  does make  a  sale,  Lewis  says  the  proceeds will  go  to  a

breast cancer charity of the purchaser’s choice or, if they don’t have a specific recipient in mind, to the Susan G. Kormen Race for the Cure charity.

As for the $1000 from each sale that will go to charity, Lewis is adamant that in this case, helping comes before profit. “This is about supporting a charity to benefit breast cancer research and creating awareness, not about making money,” she says.

Designer Marcia Maizel-Clarke of Dogeared Jewels & Gifts also cites personal reasons for her company’s involvement with breast cancer charities.  “My grandmother, step-grandmother and many other relatives have had breast cancer,” she says. “Nothing would make us happier than being part of finding the cure.”

Her participation meshes perfectly with the company’s feel-good philosophy.  (Dogeared jewelry items all come with a message card that Maizel-Clarke calls the foundations of everything the company does.) “Our  company  mission  is  all  about  putting  good energy  into  the  world.  We  truly  believe  that  by putting  good  energy,  in  this  case  a  wish  to  cure breast cancer, toward a common goal, that goal will become  a  reality,”  says Maizel-Clarke.  “We are all about individual power, and if the universe is hearing it enough (cure breast cancer), it has to kick in, and do something about it. The “make a wish” necklaces were a natural extension of this.”

One hundred percent of the net profits of the breast cancer pendants go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, not just in October but all year round. As Maizel-Clarke says,  “Breast cancer doesn’t go away after October.”  

A more unlikely participant in the "jewelry as charity" category comes from MacDaddy’s, which creates jeweled fishing lures. Despite the masculine connotations of their product, MacDaddy’s are going fishing for a cure.  In 2007, the lead item in their campaign was a solid platinum lure with a ribbon design in pink sapphires.  Matching earrings were available and, just in case anyone was thinking of actually going fishing with such a precious item, the hooks on the lure can be removed allowing it to be worn solely as jewelry. The new line was introduced at JCK Las Vegas and 10 percent of all sales are donated to breast cancer research and recovery.

For those with a smaller pocket, the company offers lower price point versions of  the  lure  including 14 karat gold lures with pink sapphires and sterling silver lures with pink cubic zirconia  settings, with prices starting at $49.95.

Curiously, the connection between fishing and breast cancer may not be as obscure as it first seems. Fly-casting is widely used in the rehabilitation of patients with breast cancer, as well as other debilitating physical and mental conditions.

“The nature of platinum, its purity and rarity, makes it the ideal medium for this charity campaign to help in the fight against breast cancer,” says Mac McBurney, co-founder of MacDaddy’s and the company’s chief jewelry designer. “Platinum is naturally hypoallergenic, which is yet another ideal characteristic for the anti-breast cancer campaign.”

 

Staying with the sporting theme, in 2007, the Gemesis Corporation had a different approach to raising money during the month of October. Gemesis supported its spokeswoman, professional golfer, Morgan Pressel , through the Polo Ralph Lauren Pink Pony Fund via the Birdie Matching Program. Polo promised to donate $100  for  every birdie  that Pressel made during  the two  LPGA  Tour  events  in  the  U.S.  during October –  an  amount  that Gemesis matched  in  support  of Pressel, who lost her mother to breast cancer in 2003.

 

In the end, Pressel, who prior to the tournaments estimated  that she would make around 15 birdies in each tournament, actually made 28 meaning that Gemesis  paid out  $2,800, a sum matched by Polo, which was donated to the Lynn Cancer Institute at Pressel’s request. In all the event raised $21,000.

 

Although the designers and manufacturers are all making their contributions for altruistic reasons, in the current consumer-conscious society, there is also the element that consumers want their purchases to have an added value and meaning.

As Amanda Gizzi , associate director of JIC for Public Relations, says, “In today’s world, it is increasingly more important for the jewelry and watch industry to be charitable. Consumers want to shop with companies and stores that share their own personal philanthropic values.  Breast cancer awareness pieces of jewelry and timepieces are important because everyone has been affected by breast cancer in one way or another. Jewelry and watches with a breast cancer awareness message allows those people to honor the cause while raising awareness and money.

“Jewelers have created precious pieces of fine jewelry and watches that have a great message of hope. Dedicating proceeds to charitable organizations allows the consumer to feel even more empowered to purchase the piece so they can help make a difference,” she says.